title: Pulmonary function test quality in the elderly: a comparison with younger adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Elderly patients may be at greater risk for misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment as a consequence of pulmonary function test underutilization and tests being conducted with low quality expectations. This study sought to determine if elderly patients are able to achieve both spirometry and diffusion capacity (DLCO) quality scores comparable to a younger adult population.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a retrospective review of pulmonary function data over a 22 month period. A list of every subject age ≥ 80 years (elderly group) and ages 40-50 years (control group) tested during the time period was compiled. The quality of spirometry and DLCO testing were examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 92.6% (139/150) of the elderly group and 91.5% (163/178) of the control group spirometry tests satisfied all American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society acceptability and reproducibility criteria (P = .84), and 84.9% (96/113) of the elderly group and 88.5% (108/122) of the control group DLCO tests satisfied all the acceptability and reproducibility criteria (P = .45).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Elderly patients referred to a hospital-based pulmonary function test lab can be expected to achieve spirometry and DLCO quality scores comparable to younger adult patients.
authors.affiliation: Pulmonary Function Laboratory, St Joseph Hospital, Nashua, New Hampshire.
authors.forename: Jeffrey M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Haynes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011653:Pulmonary Diffusing Capacity / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013147:Spirometry / Q000592:standards*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis
keywords: diffusing capacity; pulmonary function tests; spirometry; test quality